Echoing Laughter
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: He has been having strange nightmares about a giant spider who tries to eat him. Sometimes she even suceeds.


A/N: The fourth fic I wrote for the "squick me" contest. This one got my sister...she's afraid of spiders. Be warned.

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**Echoing Laughter**

Lately, he'd been having a lot of nightmares about giant spiders. Or, rather, one giant spider who would chase him through a darkened place -- and he would run right into her web, every time.

The web held him fast; it was so sticky, he couldn't move, his arms and legs were stuck, he couldn't move, what was he going to do --

Then he would wake up screaming.

"Hey, you don't look so good," Niou said, peering at Yagyuu. "There are huge bags under your eyes."

"I haven't been sleeping well," Yagyuu confessed.

"Why?"

"Nightmares."

"What are you, five years old? They're just nightmares," Niou scoffed. "When you wake up, they disappear, and then you go back to sleep again."

"I'm glad it's that easy for you, Niou-kun."

"You could always go to your mommy and daddy. They'd make it all better, wouldn't they?" Niou laughed. "Or you could sleep with a teddy bear."

"Yes, I can see where that would help."

"Maybe if you named it Masaharu! He'd chase all your bad dreams away."

Once in a while, Niou said something nice. That was probably why Yagyuu kept him around.

One night, he had that nightmare again -- but he didn't wake up when the spider advanced on him.

The spider ate him. He felt every piece of himself being devoured by her fangs, and he could hear her laughing at him, even though there was nothing of him left.

He felt all the pieces of himself inside her stomach, digesting --

But spiders don't eat their prey, do they? He thought, in a panic. They only drink the blood, right?

This must only be a nightmare --

And he woke, just like that. He wasn't screaming, this time. He turned on the light and looked in the mirror.

He was still whole. He breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to go back to bed, but a flash of red caught his eye.

There was a cut on his chest. He could almost remember the spider's claws scratching him there --

Spiders don't have claws, he scolded himself.

"You look pale," said Niou. "Are you feeling okay? Are your bad dreams still keeping you up at night?"

"I just have a headache," Yagyuu replied. "I've been getting a lot of them lately."

"You get migraines?"

"Well, I never used to."

"Maybe you should go to the doctor."

"I'm fine, Niou-kun. I probably have the headaches from lack of sleep."

"So your bad dreams have been keeping you awake!" Niou suddenly took on a very serious air. "Listen, Yagyuu, you really should see a doctor if it's this bad. Or take some sleeping pills, or something."

"I might just do that," Yagyuu said.

The sleeping pills put him right to sleep -- and right into her clutches.

This time, he could not run. Both of his legs were missing. She had already eaten them. She was chasing him. She was going to catch him sooner than usual --

He was already in her web. He was caught in the sticky mess.

She sunk her fangs into him.

"Hey, where are you going?" Niou asked.

"To the library," Yagyuu replied. "I want to do some research on spiders."

"Why?"

"There's something I want to know."

"Well, I figured, but that seems pretty random."

"You don't have to follow me."

Niou followed him anyway, and kept silent while Yagyuu went through book after book, reading about spiders. It was unusual for him to be that silent, actually -- but Yagyuu didn't question it, because he didn't want to be distracted.

The books confirmed that his dream spider was not normal. That meant that she really was his own personal nightmare.

It was funny, though -- he'd never been afraid of spiders in his life, not even when he was little. He'd always been the one who had to kill them around the house, because the rest of his family refused to go near them --

"You've been acting weird, Yagyuu," Niou said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm touched at your concern, Niou-kun."

"Don't be such an ass."

"I'm fine," Yagyuu said.

"So why are you so pale? Why do you keep having these headaches? And why the hell are you suddenly interested in spiders?"

"I don't go out much, I haven't been getting much sleep, and I wanted to do some research on spiders because I have a paper coming up."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Fine, then." Niou grabbed Yagyuu's wrist before Yagyuu could walk away. "What are your nightmares about, Yagyuu?"

"Nothing. I can't remember."

"Whatever." Niou released him. "Go see a doctor."

Yagyuu did not want the doctor to tell him he was crazy, so he would do no such thing.

He did not want to dream of spiders ever again. He drank himself to sleep to see if that would help. It was easy enough to get the booze, and though he didn't like the taste of it, it did the trick.

In a hazy world where the fog seemed to be made of alcohol, he saw a spider. It was much smaller than the spider that usually haunted his nightmares. He laughed at it, and then he stepped on it -- and crushed it until he was sure that it was dead.

He felt pleased, until he could hear her laughing at him.

Another spider scurried out of the fog and onto his foot -- then another, and another, until there were hundreds of spiders crawling up his legs.

"Get off me!" he cried. They weren't listening.

He could feel them biting him. He could feel himself being torn to pieces, and soon he would be nothing but a bloody mess on the floor.

He woke up crying.

"Yagyuu...I really think you should see a doctor," Niou said.

"I'm fine."

"What, that coming from a guy who's hugging a toilet? Fuck, Yagyuu, you just barfed about five times in a half hour!"

"I must have a virus." Yagyuu tried to stand, but his knees were weak. Niou caught him before he fell.

Yagyuu looked up into Niou's face -- and he could see spiders everywhere.

"Niou-kun...are you afraid of spiders?" he asked.

"Why the hell would I be afraid of little bugs?" Niou asked. "And what's your fascination with spiders?"

"Spiders don't eat people," he said.

"Yagyuu...I'm going to take you home now."

"That would be nice," Yagyuu murmured. He felt sleep tugging at him. He really didn't want to go back to the nightmare, but it looked like he didn't have much of a choice.

She was laughing at him again, the giant spider in his dream.

"He wakes up screaming most nights," Yagyuu's mother said to Niou. "Is there something going on at school? He's been having such terrible nightmares."

"There's nothing going on at school, so far as I know," Niou said. "He's been acting really weird lately, though. I think he might be sick."

"I'll make an appointment to take him to the doctor."

Yagyuu skipped out on his doctor's appointment. He snuck off to school. When he got there, Niou was so angry to see him that he dragged him all the way back home -- but it was too late to go to the doctor, then.

A new appointment had to be made, but they couldn't get one until the end of the month.

Yagyuu didn't want to go to the doctor. He was afraid of what the doctor would tell him.

"Yagyuu, something just crawled out of your ear!"

The exclamation of horror made his heart sink into his stomach. He didn't want to know. He really didn't want to know --

He reached up and touched his shoulder. Something crawled onto his hand.

It was a spider. No -- not quite a spider. Some grotesque _thing_ that only looked a little bit like a spider.

It looked so much like the giant spider from his dreams --

He could hear her laughing at him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Yagyuu?" Niou was almost hysterical. His antics attracted the rest of the team.

"What the hell? Are those spiders?"

So many spiders, crawling out of his ears. Yagyuu could feel them trailing down his arms, crawling down his shirt, scurrying across his face.

Suddenly, his head felt very empty.

His knees gave out, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

He still had time to wonder -- since when do spiders feed on human brains?

She laughed at him, and laughed at him, and he could feel himself swimming in her stomach, even though there was nothing of him left.


End file.
